Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT), developed over a decade ago, was among the first “democratizing” genotyping technologies, as its performance was primarily driven by the level of DNA sequence variation in the species rather than by the level of financial investment
Understanding the distribution of genetic diversity within and among individuals, populations, species and gene pools is crucial for the efficient management of germplasm collections. Molecular markers are playing an increasing role in germplasm characterization, yet their broad application is limited by the availability of markers, the costs and the low throughput of existing technologies.
Here we present the successful application of the microarray technology platform to the analysis of DNA polymorphisms. Using the rice genome as a model, we demonstrate the potential of a high-throughput genome analysis method called Diversity Arrays Technology, DArT. In the format presented here the technology is assaying for the presence (or amount) of specific DNA fragment in a representation derived from the total genomic DNA of an organism or a population of organisms.
